Monday, May 28, 2012

On may 19th I finished my second marathon!! I did the Ogden marathon and it was Amazing! The course was absolutely beautiful and had some great downhill when you needed it most. I totally surprised myself and finished in 3 hours and 18 minutes which was about a 7.32 pace. My first marathon I did in 3 hours and 32 minutes. So this one I was hoping to at least get a 3.30 but secretly I wanted to do 3.25. That's what my training plan said that I should complete based off my training but I thought that was pretty fast and I was definitely unsure that I could do...little did I know I would beat it!

There she is!!!

Here is a little run down of the day. Woke up at 3:30....yes in the a.m. so that we could drive down to Ogden which was bout 25 minutes away to park and be on the buses by 5 a.m. We jumped on one of the first buses and headed up the canyon to Huntsville.

Me and Emily...bright and early!
We got there and made our first pit stop in the trusty porta Potts. :)

Emily

That's me right when my camera started to wig out...that's all the pics I could get pre-race. :(

Then we nestled in by one of the many fire pits that they had going cuz it was freezing. Bout 1/2 hour to go time we thought we needed one more pit stop at the john but the lines were so long and the time kept ticking away. Luckily I had brought an old blanket and we made our own little porta John on the outskirts of the fence...tmi I know...just trying to prepare anyone for what they have to look forward to if they run a marathon. :)
By the time the gun went off we were still trying to make our way to the bag drop off so by the time we started the race we were a few minutes off the actual start time.

The first couple miles were a bit crazy...it felt like a herd of cows that you were weaving in and out of trying to find the tiniest gaps to make your way through to pass. I'm sure I pissed several people off as I squeeze by but it was nuts. When I finally got out of the madness I was finally able to soak up the beauty that surrounded us...all around. The gorgeous green mountains, pastures, streams, lakes, cattle, horses, waterfall...you get the picture. I couldn't help but smile and soak it all in.
I felt amazing and couldn't believe the pace I was keeping the first 14 miles. When I hit mile 13 I was wishing I was doin the half cuz I still felt so good and would have been more then happy to be crossing a finish line. :)
But I kept going...only 13 more to go. Bout mile 14 my calves started to get a little tight and from there it only got worse and worse with each step but I couldn't let it stop me. I would see people pull off and start rubbing and punding their calves and it looked pretty good but I knew if I stopped I wouldn't want to start again.

This is around where it was hurtin pretty bad...but watch out green guy!!!

My face just realizing there were poeple I knew cheering for me! I was REALLY excited although my face can't physically show it...Jeremy even made me a sign! ;)

So...just like my last marathon I thought off my sweet Dakota and what he would give to feel his little chicken legs running again and it only made me wanna go faster and try harder. It made me even more grateful for a strong healthy body. That is one thing I have come to appreciate SO much and is what I thank my Heavenly Father for every day. Mostly I am thankful for a strong healthy body so that I can take care of my sweet Dakota. He is getting bigger and heavier all the time and he definitely gives your arms and back a workout every time you hold him...but I am grateful for my ability to care for him. I often worry about the future as he gets bigger and grows...what if he never learns to walk again??? How will I continue to pick him and and take care of him??? I try not to think too far ahead because I don't know what the future holds and I don't know what Dakota will be capable of so there is no use wasting today worrying about tomorrow...but it is always in the back of my mind. I ran into a mom of a 31 year old son who had a brain injury at birth and needs all the cares Dakota needs. One of the first things I asked her was...how do you get him up every day and take care of him? She said...I do it myself cuz my husband is often out of town. I tell people not to mess with me because I pick him up 2 times a day! I thought wow...she was no body builder but she had the strength and heart of a mom and a healthy body...so that is all I need! Dakota is all I need for motivation. He is my inspiration...I have to say, I think he is the reason I did so well.

Kisses for him after the race!!!

Anyways...Bout mile 20 a girl that had been back and forth with me at first and then I had lost her for most the rest of the time came up on me. I told myself...don't let her beat me! We stayed neck and neck til the last two miles and my little legs just had nothin left in them. She pulled ahead and I literally could not run any faster no matter how hard I tried. I was just moving to finish.
The finish line was a mad house with tons of people lining each side because the half and full are ending at the same spot. I didn't see Zach and Dakota but they saw me!
When I crossed the line and started walkin my legs were so weak they felt like jello. I grabbed some drinks and some snacks and made my way through the misters. After stretching and breathing for a bit all I wanted to see was my cute family.
Zachs grandparents had picked them up to be there at the finish. I didn't have my fan club like last race but my friends families cheered me along the way and I can't tell you how much I LOVE the spectators that cheer for you even though they dont know you! They are the best!
It took me forever to find them in the chaos but I was SO happy to see their smiling faces and kiss my boy. He has no idea how much he helped his mommy do her very best!

Telling him how much he helped me!

Nate, Terra, and Ellie came...thanks guys!!

Our little family and grandma...sad we didn't get grandpa in there...he was there though!

Thanks again you guys! Sure love you!!

I ended up 4th in my age group, 17th overall for woman, and 113 overall. I qualified for Boston again but not sure if this is the year I will go or not yet.
Afterwards Zach and Dakota took me for a nice well deserved breakfast!

Wow baby!!! The French Toast was Zach's but it all was amazing!

Then he took me out to dinner ( because you know I was not gonna cook...at least for a couple of days...I deserve that right?!) best part is a massage after dinner. It should be mandatory that everyone who runs a marathon should get a massage afterwards!

Things I didn't like or would do differently:

1. Get in line for the bathrooms before 30 minutes to race time.

2. Get in the start line before the gun goes off so I'm not stuck behind people at a slower pace and trying to weave in and out.

3. Maybe try some compression socks to see if that helps my calves from tightening up.

4. Make a better meeting plan with the family so I didn't have to look and wait for so long.

5. Crowds at the packet pick up expo, crowds at the start, and crowds at the end...too many people!

6. The unhappy stomach and all that comes with it after the race.;) that's all the info I'll give you on that.

Things I loved about this marathon:

1. The course.... with downhills throughout and especially towards the end when you needed them most. (there were some definite uphill but enough downhill to make up for the hard ups) it was also mainly a straight shot...not a lot of turns.

So Zach and I got crazy and decided totally last minute we were going to L.A. Totally not like us...we hardly ever go on vacation, let alone outside of UT or AZ. But there was a purpose behind it all...

So Zach is an amazing thinker. Since he has gone blind he has invented 2 different tools. One just for landscapers and one a posthole digger that blows the normal posthole digger out of the water. He has spent the last few years spending hours and hours making them exactly how he wants them...and now he is at the point to really manufacture and sell them. The landscaping tool he is gonna manufacture and sell on his own since it is a lot smaller scale...so if you know any landscapers that use poly pipe, they are gonna want one of these babies. ;)
The posthole digger he has just filed the patent on and is looking to license it out to a bigger company and have them manufacture and sell it, but its a lot harder to do. Nobody wants to talk to joe shmo and so it is hard to find a company that will even talk to you.

Anyways...
So Zach's favorite show is Shark Tank because it is a show with a bunch of entrepreneurs like him who started a business or invented something and they go before rich investors with their ideas and try and get them to be partners with them. So we had these 2 plane tickets that were about to expire so I told him we should use them for him to go audition for the show...crazy right. So Sunday night we looked online to see when and where auditions were and they were that Thursday in L.A.!!! Not a lot of time to plan and prepare. Zach wasn't sure he could take off work (even when you own your own business it is hard to do since you have commitments). So he worked his little tail feathers off Monday through Wednesday to see if he could get ahead to be able to go and on Wednesday afternoon he gave me the go ahead. So I hurried and booked our flights, got a hotel, rental car, and lucky for us Zach's AMAZING parents were willing and able to watch Dakota so we could go and even stay a couple of days to make it a little more fun.
So we flew in Thursday morning (missed our flight even though we got up at 4 a.m., but lucky enough we were able to jump on another real quick) got into L.A. bout 10:30. Auditions were from 12-7. We got to the place for auditions bout 11:30 and the line was already way down the street.
We waited in line for 6 whole hours for a chance to meet with someone for 5 minutes. (I cant imagine the wait for American idol!) We were pretty much in line on the streets most the time.

Zach waiting. thinking. resting.

Check out that line...and we were probably towards the last half!

By the time we got in the building it was probably bout an hour wait. We met some great people though in line and it was fun to talk with other inventors and here what their ideas were.

This is Jasmine who we got to know the best! She has a great idea for a jogging stroller!

She also hooked us up with some great places to go to while we were there!

More chatting!

The room where you got to present had 6 different people in it, so six people were all presenting to each person at the same time. Lucky for Zach he got to present to a male, since most of the people in there were females. (mostly guys have only used pothole diggers and can appreciate how hard they are to use) The guy loved his idea and spent a lot of time with Zach.

I was able to sneak a couple photos while he presented.

He even called one of the head guys over to look at it and talk to him for a second.

Do those faces not look interested or what?! ;)

So the next step is they want Zach to send them a video demonstrating how to use the old posthole digger and his new version of it. So Zach will send that in in the next couple days and then its just wait and see. They start filming in June through August so you here back pretty soon.
There were over a thousand people and they got bout 25,000 email submissions since the last show so the chances are pretty slim but we are crossing our fingers. It is a T.V. show so even if you have a great idea, if they don't think it would be an entertaining idea for people or the "sharks" or if they just don't like the person, you don't really have a shot no matter how great your idea is. So who knows?! It would be a great opportunity but we are not getting our hopes up to high.
Even if it doesn't work out we got a fun trip out of it.

After the long day of waiting we went down to universal city walk and walked around the shops and ate some dinner. I was such a fun environment and it was fun to be somewhere completely new.

They had a water massage store so we had to try that out. The guy was nice and let us try out some of his other fun tools.

Do we not look so nice and relaxed?!

Little head massager

He had some electronic little stimulators on his upper back that made his shoulders shrug up and down involuntarily. It was pretty hilarious to watch and even crazier to feel!

They had comedy show that night so we decided to go to that and had some good laughs.

There were probably bout 6 or 7 different comedians...this guy was one of our favorites! Cant remember his name though!

It was late by the time we got to the hotel and we were exhausted after only going off of 3 hours of sleep.
The next day we really had no agenda. That was the best part about the trip...nowhere to be just going with the flow. We decided to go on a tour bus round Hollywood and Beverly hills. This was so fun and relaxing just in the fact that I didn't have to drive! (have i mentioned i hate driving since i became the sole driver for our family) I just got to sit back and relax and enjoy the scenery. They took us around to several stars homes. We aren't really the star struck kinda people but I love to look at different homes and designs and these were some pretty amazing houses...even ones that weren't famous peoples.

Here they are as best as I could get them. Some of the houses were pretty secluded and covered up with trees and bushes so you could only see like the chimney or rooftop like the Bechams and Tom Cruise but it was still fun...

Got our headphones on and ready!! The van was open top so it was nice and breezy!

I think this one was I Love Lucy ladies last house before she passed away. Took that one for my sister Annie and my mom. Die hard I Love Lucy watchers! ;)

This was Elton Johns home...can you see the EJ on the fence gate.

This wasn't anyone famous just a crazy lookin house...probably the Smurfs or something. ;)

Can't remember the name of this car because I am not a car person but it's like some outrageous car that the tour guide said we would probably never see in our lifetime again...so I took a picture. Zach said Simon Cowell has one of these. Cool...I guess! ;)

Some beautiful scenery!

Made 1 stop to get out and check out that scenery so had to snap a pic!

Jimmy Kimmel (not sure if that's how you spell it or not)

This was Simon Cowell's. He bought Jennifer Lopez's house for 8 million and tore the house down and built this one for like 22 million...SERIOUSLY...why don't you just pay my house off...it wasn't even that cool lookin! Come on Simon!!!

Can't remember...somebody cool! ;)

This was the gate in front of a house that Elvis Presley owned. This gate has TONS of messages from fans to Elvis...thought it was pretty cool!

Where the tour started and ended was where all the handprints of celebrities is located. Right off the bat I found my "cougar crush" from Twighlight "Jacob." I decided this was my only chance to hold his hand!

He is on the left.

It was so warm! ;)

I felt bad so I had to find one of Zach's crush (and one of my girl crushes) so it would be fair for Zach...Jennifer Aniston. ;)

He looks like he liked it a little too much...look at that grin!

After the tour we decided to go to Santa Monica beach. I was hoping to just relax on the beach but by the time we got there it was so cold and windy it was pretty miserable to be outside. So we went in a restaurant and had some dinner. Ended the night with of course some ice cream! (I didn't get any pics of this cuz my camera and Zach's phone were out of battery)

We flew out the next morning and that was that. Of course it would have been nice to have a couple more days but since it was so last minute and Zach's parents weren't planning on watching Dakota we couldn't stay for too long...and I did miss my sweet boy. He wouldn't have enjoyed doing all the things that we went and did but I wished he was there with us and we were able to take him to Disneyland and all the fun places that a normal 3 year old would LOVE!
It was all worth it though just for Zach and I to get away and just be together for a bit. We definitely enjoyed just the thought of leaving all are worries behind and just being carefree...at least for a couple of days. We were so grateful to Doug and Vicki (Zach's parents) for taking care of our little man. We never have to worry when he is with them! They even sent us a picture of his sweet smile!

Although we had a great time...I do love the beach and will miss the Cali weather and the excitement... I realized I love Perry UT and the serenity of where we live. It's nothing extravagant or exciting but it is home!

I love:
1. When someone honks at you it is because they know you and are saying hi...not saying hurry up you idiot! :)

2. I love that our local Walmart is just 1 floor and not 3. Seriously there were escalators in the Walmart and a place next to them that takes your cart up for you...it was nuts! I love that we can ride our Ranger on the back road all the way to our Walmart!

3. I love that I don't have to rely on Zach's phone to get me where I need to be...I know where I am going and there are not 10 million stop lights along the way.

4. I don't have to pay 7-10 dollars to park anywhere and I don't have to get my parking ticket validated just to go to CVS pharmacy.

5. I don't have to pay $1,500 a month for a small apartment. (that is more then r mortgage!!)

6. I don't have tour buses full of people driving by my home. (although if people knew how cool our neighborhood really is...they most totally would! ;) )

7. Even though we don't have tons of land and yard, we have more then most houses up there. The homes are huge but they are all jam packed together with no room .

Overall, it was a breath of fresh air to go somewhere new and different and just relax. We are ready to take on real life again! :) My only regret was I was SO close to the Ellen show and didn't get to go. Thursday was her last show for the summer and it was sold out...we wouldn't have been able to go that day anway cuz we were in line for Shark Tank. Oh well, one of these days Ell...I'm comin to see you!!!!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

As you can see my blog has gotten a MUCH needed makeover thanks to my amazing friend Becky from Cutest Blog on the Block. She has been so awesome to work with and I appreciate her SO much! We met running Ragnar together in AZ (which I still need to post about) and I have been in love with her ever since! When you are stuck in a van with someone for 2 straight days...running on little to no sleep...running your guts out...you are FORCED to get to know them! Lucky for me she and all the others in our van were SO much fun! In fact I almost moved back to AZ just so I could run with them on a regular basis! ;)

We are still workin with it all so be patient. I will hopefully get all the tabs and things up and running smoothly soon! Have a happy day!

Friday, May 18, 2012

So first of all HUGE thank you to all who came out to support Dakota and our family at Dylan's race! We had such a blast and it was SO fun to see so many familiar faces!! Thanks to Dakota (she is the girl that set it all up...great name!), the Shaws (who picked Dakota to be the recipient this year), all the sponsors and raffle donors (there were some great prizes), and of course the runners! It was a dang hard course with lots of hills and most people I talked to after were pretty sore! ;) But it was fun...right?!
It was a tough weekend with a lot going on so I know many made a lot of sacrifices to be there...so THANK YOU!! Thanks to Zach's mom Vicki...we have LOTS of pictures to show it all off!!

Start line...get ready, set.... (Dakota started it off in the Ranger with his great grandparents driving in the front, Zach (getting out of running), Aunt Ashley, and cousins Maeley and Olivia in back.

GO!! Catch that Ranger!

I was dying by the end but...

I beat this kid and that's all that matters...sorry Jake! ;)

Husband and wife racing to the finish...who won?!

Look at that handsome face squinting in the sun!
(He is winking at all of his girlfriends that came to the race! ;) )

They had a Kids K after the 5k which was SO fun!

WATCH OUT!!!

Our niece Olivia won! You go girl!

They also had a great raffle with great prizes...thanks again for all who donated!!

I'm the wife to a blind man and a mom to a brain injured angel boy! Never imagined either of these in my "story" of life but I have learned to expect the unexpected. My blog is my journal of this crazy adventure called life...the good, the bad, and the ugly. I try my best to live each imperfect day wonderfully! Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail!! But I wouldn't trade these trials for the world. They have taught me ALL of the most important things I have EVER learned in life and have made me the person I am today!!